ARCHER SHIRT : LIBERTY OF LONDON CHIVE

Making a Liberty of London Archer Shirt has been on my wish list for a while now. Seems like the most classic combo, pairing a button-front shirt with Liberty tana lawn cotton. Now that I’ve made one, I want to line up a few more into the sewing queue.

I’m so happy to have this project as one of our newest classes at the workroom. First off, I learned that a button-down shirt refers to shirts where the collar buttons down. I always assumed it meant any shirt with buttons down the front. Nope. Thus, we named the class Button-Front Shirt! This class is a wonderful way to refine your garment making skills. I learned a lot of great tricks from Emma. I was especially excited to use french seams throughout the whole garment, even the armholes. I’ve never tried it before and it is so satisfying to see such a beautiful finish on the inside. I love to serge, but this is next level.

I also made my best collar ever. Something always goes slightly awry for me when attaching the collar stand to the shirt, but the method in the pattern worked perfectly and we nicknamed it ‘banana split’. The other thing that I finally got was the sleeve placket. Those things have always confused the heck out of me. But again, walking through it with Emma and following the pattern it came together like a dream.

The class ended with Emma’s button trick, which is a game changer for perfectly sewn buttons.

I’ve had such great experiences with Grainline Studio patterns. The fit usually works great and everything is so well designed with easy to understand instructions. I’m so happy I’ve cracked the Archer Shirt and I’m ready to make a dozen more. Also – totally going to try the Pop-over Variation. I’ve got some brushed cotton set aside for that one.

2 Comments

I’ve always wondered about “button-down”! Knowing it referred to the collar, I could never figure out what to call the same style of shirt when the collar doesn’t button. It makes me a little crazy that both are always referred to as button-down — how do you distinguish?! — so I’m glad to see you clarifying that. But then “button-front” seems equally (or maybe more) non-specific since there are lots of shirts with button fronts that aren’t this style of shirt. Terminology can be so vexing (for a kook like me)!